Tourniquet
by RavenTempestShadowhunter
Summary: Nico and Thalia are best friends. Thalia has been drifting farther away from Nico. He wants to know what's wrong. Based on the song Tourniquet by Evanescence. AU High School one-shot, characters are a bit OOC. Rated for depressing themes. WARNING: Implied substance abuse, mentions of self harm.


**I don't own Percy Jackson or Tourniquet by Evanescence.**

**Tourniquet**

"Thalia," I said, looking at her. She was staring at her lunch, not eating. "Thalia." She still didn't answer. "Thalia!" I snapped my fingers under her nose.

"What?" She looked up. "Sorry. You were talking about animals."

"No, I was talking about how stupid the trip to the planetarium is going to be."

"Right, sorry."

"Are you okay? You seem sort of out of it," I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night. I'm fine." She picked up her sandwich, and took a small bite out of it.

I was still worried. She'd been growing distant from me for a while. But I shook off the feeling. "Want to come over to my house after school? I got a new computer game. I haven't played it yet, I figured you'd want to."

Thalia glanced up at me. "I, um, I can't. Sorry."

"Why?"

"I have to help Mom. Sorry, Nico." She stood up and left, throwing her lunch in the trash. She'd barely touched it.

I stared after her. What was wrong? She'd never kept secrets from me, and she'd never acted like this. When there was something wrong, she told me.

But now she was hiding something, and I could tell. She was distant, she never wanted to do anything with me. Why?

"Thalia," I called, walking up the stairs. Her mother was in the bathroom, throwing up. I could hear the violent retching from outside the door. But I ignored her and walked towards Thalia's room.

"Thalia?" I said through the door. From inside I heard shuffling and a few small sniffles before the door opened.

"Nico, what are doing here?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"Nothing else to do. I thought I could help you with whatever you were doing for your mom." I glanced behind me at the bathroom door. "I'm guessing that was a lie."

She seemed to fumble around for an answer. "N-no, I…I…she…she didn't need help."

I pushed the door open farther and entered the room. I heard Thalia shut the door. I turned to face her. "Stop lying to me, Thalia."

She tried to plaster a fake smile onto her face. "I'm not lying, Nico. Mom told me she needed help, and it turned out she didn't."

I laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "Oh, she needs help, alright. She needs some serious professional help. But that's not why you didn't want to come over today."

"Don't be rude! That's my mother you're talking about!" She took a step forward, but her voice trembled.

"Like you care! You've never cared about that bitch, Thalia. And you've never lied to me."

"I'm not lying, Nico."

"That's bullshit. You've been lying to me for months. I just don't know why." I stepped toward her, and she took a step back. "Thalia, why are you trying to push me away?"

She shook her head violently. "I'm not." But I could hear the quiver in her voice.

I took another step forward. "Yes, you are. Thalia, you're scaring me. You've never kept secrets from me. What's wrong?"

She shook her head violently. "I'm not lying, and I'm not keeping secrets." She sounded desperate, like her life hung on me believing her.

I noticed something on her right sleeve. I stepped forward, and she didn't back away. I took her hand. "What's this?"

She looked at her sleeve. "Nothing," she mumbled, tugging away from me.

I took her hand again and pushed up the sleeve.

"Oh my God."

Her arm was covered in scars, some fresh and some older. I pushed up the other sleeve. There were words on this arm: _Angel_,_ Idiot_, _Bitch_, and _Hell_ were among them.

I looked up at Thalia's face. Silent tears were streaming down her face. "Thalia, what the hell?"

She let out a sob. "I couldn't do it, Nico. I couldn't handle it."

I pulled her into my arms. She clung to me and cried into my shirt. "Thalia, the world's hard for everyone. And I'm always here for you."

She didn't answer me.

Thalia accepted help. Sometimes I went with her to the counseling sessions, and she didn't let go of my hand the entire time.

I thought it was helping. I thought that the counseling was working. I was wrong.

It should have been dark. It should have been raining. It should have been nighttime. There should have been thunder shaking the sky and lightning streaking across the heavens.

But it wasn't. As I walked to her house, the sky was a brilliant blue. As I went up the stairs calling her name, I could feel the warmth, not too cold and not too hot. As I opened the bathroom door, I could see the sun streaming in through the window. And as the blood touched my shoes, turning them red, I could hear birds chirping.

Thalia was lying on the floor. Her face was white, and it glistened where her tears had made a track down it. Her eyes were closed. Her black hair lay in a halo around her head. Her wrists were covered in blood. I didn't have to touch her to feel the coldness of her skin, I didn't have to listen to see if she was breathing, I didn't have to test for a heartbeat. I knew that she was dead.

I knelt in shock, staring at my best friend. Then I pulled out my phone and called 911. even though I knew there was no point. When I hung up the phone, I just looked at her. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be crying. But the tears wouldn't come.

Staring at her, I realized there was a piece of paper in her hand. I took it and looked at it. It was only four lines. Our favorite song.

_My God, my tourniquet  
__Return to me salvation  
__My God, my tourniquet  
__Return to me salvation_

**I'm sorry if the characters seem a bit OOC. This was written one morning as I was listening to _Tourniquet_ and decided it would make a good story. I was feeling very depressed at the time. I feel like this is very similar to my story _Love, Tears, and Suicide_, but it's a bit different. Trust me, I am trying to write happier things. We'll see how that works out.**


End file.
